25th of Heartfire, 4E201
Marcurio wasn't in the bed this morning when I woke up, so I went to go and find him. He was on the floor of the inn, still in his steel plate armor, and surrounded by empty bottles. Amazingly his circlet had managed to stay on somehow, though it was very crooked. I tried waking him up, but he wouldn't. So, I went and got a bucket and filled it with water. And dumped it on his head. Nothing. I filled the bucket again and tried again. Still nothing. At last, on the third bucketful of water, which I'd used a frost spell on to make it extra cold, he finally woke up. I helped him up and out of his armor, then left him in the bedroom  with some soap, a kettle of warm water, and some rags, and told him that he should clean himself up. I took the armor outside and cleaned it as best I could. I had no idea how he'd managed to get ale in his gauntlets and boots. I also washed my new outfit I'd gotten from Alva, and left it outside to dry in the breeze.

I ordered us some breakfast, and wrote some notes in my journal while I waited  for it to get ready. Marcurio wandered in and sat next to me, still looking a bit out of it. I gave him a stamina potion to wake him up, and patted him on the shoulder. Our meal was simple, but rather good, and Marcurio ate all of his and some of mine that I didn't eat. I wasn't as hungry as usual for some reason. He asked what our plans for the day were, and I told him that we needed to go and see the Jarl to tell her the good news. Then, since there was only an alchemy shop in Morthal, we'd head to Dawnstar to sell some of our unwanted gear and fix up our armor and weapons that the vampires had damaged. I also told him that I'd counted my septims, and I finally had enough to buy a house for sale in Whiterun. Then I put my things away, and told him to get dressed in his nicest robes to go and see the Jarl with me. When he went to change, I went outside to grab my new clothes. I brought them inside, and Jonna let me borrow a room that wasn't being used at the moment to change in. My new outfit was rather nice,and well made, but a bit revealing. No wonder Alva had managed to seduce half of Morthal. Marcurio was waiting for me in the main room of the inn, and dropped the apple he'd been eating when he saw me. I tried not to blush and asked him if he was ready to go. I had to ask him a few times before he finally nodded. Then we left the inn, and headed for the Jarl's longhouse.

The Jarl was happy, if a bit surprised, to see us alive. She said that she didn't think I could do it, and that Morthal was now in my debt. She also handed me a coinpurse full of eight hundred septims. I didn't have any pockets big enough, so I gave it to Marcurio. He'd been scowling slightly when the Jarl had pointedly ignored him, but the gold cheered him up. The Jarl also mentioned that she'd heard of my aiding her people, so she made me the Thane of Morthal. Her guard captain handed me an enchanted greatsword from her armory to serve as my badge of office. I thanked her, and told her that it was an honor to be named her Thane. Marcurio noticed me struggling with the giant sword as we left, and offered to carry it for me. I handed it over with my thanks, and told him that he could keep all of the gold from the Jarl for being so sweet.

We made it back to the inn, and got our gear together for the trip to Dawnstar. I also changed into some plain clothes under my armor, since I didn't want my new outfit getting messed  up. Marcurio helped me bring his inside where I'd left it out to dry, and I helped him into it. Then, we gathered our gear and bought some food for the journey, then started to Dawnstar.

Our journey was uneventful, with the exception of a few frostbite spiders along the road. Then, near Dawnstar, we came across a trio of Thalmor. We walked past them, then Marcurio started talking about how wonderful Talos was, and made sure that he was loud enough for them to hear. It was very hard for me not to giggle. They attacked us of course, for being heretics, and I finally got a set of Elven gauntlets! I would sell the rest of the armor we got though. Outside of Dawnstar, we found Ahkari's Khajiit caravan. Then  I remembered that we'd managed to get Kharjo's amulet. I dug it out of my bag and walked over to him, then handed it over with a smile. He thanked me, and not only offered to fight at my side if  ever asked him, but he also rewarded me with a coinpurse full of one thousand septims. I thanked him, and went over to sell some of our things to Ahkari. Then, we continued into the town and headed to the blacksmith to get  our armor fixed up. When we got there though, there wasn't anything to fix the armor on. Oh well, we could fix it in Whiterun. I still traded with the smith though, and soon we were on our way to Whiterun. I'd never owned more than a small shack before, so I couldn't wait to actually have a house.

It was dark by the time we  made it to Whiterun, and all of the shops had closed hours ago. I stopped by the smith anyways to borrow her equipment, since she'd said before that I could use it anytime. I managed to get all of our gear looking much better, and repaired what I could. Marcurio seemed impressed by my smithing abilities at least. We decided to go to the inn for dinner and sleep, since it was too late to go and buy a house from the steward. We sat at one of the tables in the corner and had a nice dinner. The inn was thankfully quiet, since I was feeling rather tired from our journey. After dinner, I did some writing in my journal, and Marcurio went ahead and got the room for us. Then he stayed upstairs for a while, probably to count his coins again. When I went upstairs a while later, I found him already asleep. I quietly got out of my armor and climbed into bed to get some rest myself.